Air NZ boss addresses social media scandal

The CEO of Air New Zealand has publicly addressed the recent social media scandal, saying the employees involved have disappointed the entire organisation.

“It goes without saying that this is a situation we are treating extremely seriously,” said Christopher Luxon. “Our obvious concern is that the behaviour displayed is a clear breach of our code of conduct and more importantly has let down 11,000 hard-working Air New Zealanders.''

Luxon was referring to the compromising material which recently surfaced online – one image shows a pilot posing with an inflatable doll inside an aircraft while a separate video shows a flight attendant moving through the cabin spitting water. The video is accompanied by a caption which reads; “Wish I could spit on passengers like this.”

“We hold ourselves to the highest professional standards at Air New Zealand and, in my view, this behaviour frankly doesn’t meet that standard,” said Luxon.
The national carrier also confirmed that an investigation is underway.

"One of the staff members concerned no longer works for Air New Zealand and the other two have been removed from duties pending the outcome of our investigation,” they revealed.

“We believe the video was produced about four years ago and the photos were taken more than a year ago,” they added.